Friday, February 12, 2016

War of Quietus--Another Jewish Revolt

There was a
significant “Third Revolt” of the Jews during the reign of the emperor Trajan
(98-117 AD). This war took place between
the Jewish War (First Revolt—66-70 AD) and the Bar Kokhba War (Second Revolt—132-135
AD).

It was
called “the war of Quietus” and took place between the years 115 and 117 AD. It was fought in Cyrenaica, Cyprus, Egypt,
and Mesopotamia, but apparently not in Judaea.

More
accurately, the “war of Quietus” was a series of revolts. These revolts were likely the direct results
of both the aftermath of the reign of Domitian (who was especially hard on
Christians and Jews) as well as attacks under Trajan’s rule on both Christian and
Jewish leaders.

We do not know a great deal about
the “war of Quietus,” and one reason is that there is not any known numismatic
material that references this war. By
comparison, the numismatic evidence from the First Revolt consists of both the
coins of the Jews of the period, as well as the JUDAEA CAPTA coins of the
Flavians, which reflect a great deal on their view of Rome’s victory.

Bar Kokhba’s
coins are likewise very important to our knowledge of the so-called Second
Revolt. Indeed, the first name of Bar Kokhba,
“Simon” was known ONLY from his coins until forty years ago—1960 to be
exact—when the Bar Kokhba letters, discovered in caves near the Dead Sea, were discovered
and translated.

After
Domitian’s harsh rule, his successor, Nerva, was less abusive to his subjects.

There is no
doubt that at this time in history there was quite a lot of animosity against
the Jews. If you don’t believe it, read
the very anti-Jewish first-century historian Tacitus, who in small part stated:
“The other practices of the Jews are sinister and revolting, and have
entrenched themselves by their very wickedness.”

Early in
the second century, under Trajan’s rule, the head of the Judaeo-Christian
Church, Simeon, son of Cleophas, was executed by the Roman governor of Judaea.

Furthermore, Ignatius, bishop of
Antioch, a leading gentile Christian, was sent to Rome and executed about the
year 110. Grant describes him as “the
first significant Christian churchman.”
(At this point in the history of Christianity there were both Jewish
Christians and Gentile Christians. Originally
Christianity was an offshoot of Judaism, thus the earliest Christians needed
first to be Jews. Later, as Paul spread the
gospel throughout the world, he preached that non-Jews could convert directly
to Christianity without becoming Jewish first.)

The reasons for these executions
are not clear, but they are probably part of a religious persecution by Rome that also
underscored the Jewish unrest.

In 110, Trajan moved against Parthia, thus
ending a 50-year peace that Nero had established. The Parthians had been weakened by the new
and powerful Kushan kingdom in eastern Iran. A few years later, Trajan also annexed Armenia, and
moved his armies into upper Mesopotamia and
Adiabene. Adiabene is a country of
special interest, since its ruling dynasty (led by Queen Helena) had voluntary
converted to Judaism in the first century.
(Helena’s tomb stands today in East Jerusalem, it is known as the “Tomb
of the Kings…a blog on Queen Helena of
Adiabene at a later date.)

During these various military
operations, a large number of Jewish communities came under Trajan’s control.

The first uprising came in Cyrenaica, where a Jewish king named Lukuas (also called
Andrew) violently attacked the local Greek governments and Roman provincial
authorities—all of whom had been weakened in favor of Trajan’s Parthian
campaigns. Cassius Dio painted a grim
picture of Jewish atrocities, culminating with the Jews forcing the Romans and
Greeks to fight with wild animals, or as gladiators in the arena. This sounds almost as if the Jews were
exacting revenge for similar fates suffered by so many Jewish captives in Rome some 45 years
earlier after the First Revolt.

The outbreak had meanwhile spread
to Cyprus, and Eusebius, the “father of church history” reports its capital
Salamis was laid waste by them. There is
no information about how the Cyprus
revolt was ended, but we know of the consequence, Cassius Dio reports that from
that time forward Jews were not allowed to appear on the island, under penalty
of death. Violent fighting also followed
in Egypt
and the synagogue of Alexandria,
said to be a marvel of Egyptian architecture, was destroyed. To quell these Jewish outbreaks, Trajan’s
first move was to call in a general named Martius Turbo. By repeated onslaughts against the Jews he
overcame the rebellions in Cyprus,
Egypt,
and Cyrenaica.

To oppose the Jews closer to his
own army, in the district of the Euphrates,
Trajan turned to his favorite general, Lucius Quietus, a Moorish prince, known
for his unpleasant disposition.

Emil Shurer writes in The Jewish People in the Time of Jesus
Christ that “with barbarous cruelty Quietus executed his commission and
laid waste to the mostly Jewish towns of Nisibis and Edessa. Thousands of Jews
were put to death. Thus was order restored, and Quietus, in recognition of his
services, was appointed governor of Palestine.”

Even though accounts of the “war of
Quietus” are skimpy, some sources say that as many as half a million casualties
occurred amongst the foes.

Apparently as a reward for his good
work, in about 117 AD Trajan sent Quietus to Judaea as governor of Palestine
with unlimited power. This seems to
indicate that there was also a certain level of Jewish rebellion in
Palestine. However, the main Jewish
insurrections at this time were clearly outside of Judaea. On the other hand, it is quite probable that
the Jewish restiveness in Judaea at the time was the precursor to the Bar Kokhba
War which erupted only 14 years later in 131/132 AD.

Possibly partly because of the
Jewish uprisings, Trajan was finally unsuccessful in his Parthian campaign and
he eventually had to give up on his grandiose plan to turn Parthia into a
Roman province. At this time Trajan
became very sick. He was taken to Antioch, and died a few
months later in Cilicia. His wife, Plotina, told the army that before
his death Trajan had named Hadrian as his adopted son and successor.

When Hadrian became emperor, he
removed Quietus from this post, probably because the Moorish General had
favored Trajan’s expansionism, which was not Hadrian’s style. Quietus was executed in Rome the following year, accused of
participating in a conspiracy against the emperor.

I discussed the “war of Quietus”
with Rabbi Benjamin Yablok, a numismatist and Talmudic scholar. He pointed out that the “war of Quietus” had
at least one interesting, long lasting effect on Jewish tradition. Based on writings in the Talmud, Rabbi Yablok
explains, when Jewish women were married they would wear golden tiaras or
crowns to the ceremony. But, “in
commemoration of the misfortunes caused by Lucius Quietus, the Rabbinical sages
decreed that brides should no longer wear crowns.” Jewish women have not worn golden marriage
crowns since that time.

There
is no numismatic evidence of the Jewish War of Quietus, 115-117 AD. However, this eastern issue semis of Trajan
gives him the title PARTHICO “The Parthian” which refers to his early success
against the Parthians during this period.
The Jewish Talmud refers to this denomination as a “mismis.” (Image
courtesy cngcoins.com)